Early South American Photography in the Ruy Souza e Silva Collection by Ruy Souza e Silva

This will be a presentation of around 30 daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and ferrotypes depicting Latin America, including a set of very early Brazilian pieces. Among the artists on display will be L. Compte, A. Morand, C. D. Fredericks and one daguerreotype attributed to Mme. Lavenue, known as the first woman daguerreotypist in Brazil. The presentation will include a contemporary composed panorama of Rio de Janeiro’s Palace Plaza (Largo do Paço) and also a comparison of the same image in a 1818 print drawn from nature, a 1842 daguerreotype and a 1858 print drawn from a salt paper photo. Ruy Silva has been an amateur XIX century collector of photography since 2000. He initially focused on Brazil but later expanded to Latin American as a whole. Presently his collection comprises more than 12,000 photos, all catalogued, filed and digitized in São Paulo, Brazil. Presented on September 18, 2021.